


7 Minutes of Saturday

by rosesfortae



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Bittersweet Ending, F/F, I'm Sorry, Red String of Fate, heejin-centric, hyunjin and jinsoul get together, this is basically heejin suffering, unrequited 2jin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 12:52:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18993040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosesfortae/pseuds/rosesfortae
Summary: Heejin's loved for too long. It breaks her from the inside out, while she watches.Hyunjin loves. But it's not her that she loves.





	7 Minutes of Saturday

They're not particularly close. There's not a definite reason for why she is feeling this way, outside of destiny playing tricks on her.

It's Friday. She's watching Hyunjin from across the table while engaging mindlessly into casual chatter with the others. Her mind is still focused on Hyunjin, and so are her eyes; it's only natural that she pipes up and enters the conversation whenever the other speaks up. She doesn't do it often after all.

Heejin smiles every time Hyunjin sends a beam her way, be it accompanied by a set of words or not. It makes her stomach do flips too, sends butterflies everywhere within herself and she feels nice; feels that she's happy right then, hopes the moment could last forever.

It does last a while, while their group is chatting within itself. Conversation banters back and forth aimlessly, topic switching to everything under the sun in a matter of minutes. That is nice on its own as well. Heejin likes stability; even if their interactions are, in general, chaos, that's a constant and it anchors her all the same. Even the fluttering in her gut became a constant of its own with time.

Another important constant in her life is the strings littering the whole room, through the windows, below tables and doors, curled up everywhere and blocking out the view. The strings aren't troublesome on their own; if she doesn't focus on them, they eventually fade into the background. Still, she can't imagine not seeing them, not having this bright pink band around her finger.

The band weaves into a string as well, brilliant pink streaming from her finger. It's a truly beautiful sight, one that can't be captured onto a camera. Many people have tried, but after all, only the weavers can see those links of the soul or interfere with them. They're not usually physical, only in touch after being cut. Not even then are they visible to the usual eye.

Heejin is a weaver; she's always been fascinated by all the destinies littered around her. Just as they can fade out of focus, out of her vision's way, her fingers phase through them. She can't touch a single string except her own; she's tugged on it before, but there was never a particular reaction. Only she ever feels the tugs, the other end's always been dead silent, not a single sign of an answer. Of course, the person on the other end isn't a weaver; that's a reasonable reason. The conclusion doesn't stop the disappointment.

She still wants the person on the other end to know everything, because Heejin knows who exactly it is. Her hand lowers to under the table, and she pulls on the string roughly with a jab of her elbow. All the time, her eyes are watching. Ready to catch a reaction.

Hyunjin jolts in her seat, looks around in confusion, but Heejin is already back to her calm stance, politely averting her eyes. She only catches the other's gaze for a moment. That could easily be passed off as a coincidence; it doesn't have to mean anything, in the end. Hyunjin's not a weaver, she wouldn't know. Heejin is, so she does know what she should not.

Soon enough, there's no trace of wonder left in Hyunjin's eyes, because they're moved to someone and indeed, there's something else resting within them. It isn't just admiration, it's something much larger. It sparkles and lights her eyes up in the prettiest of ways, makes the skin at the edge of her eyes crinkle up because she's smiling so wide.

She can see the someone else's string leading out the window with many others, a beautiful blue woven with peach. It really makes her feel like she's suffocating, like everything is going wrong. The yellow woven with her own pink is turning her stomach inside out even more because she's seen it leads to Hyunjin. And her soulmate isn't interested in her at all.

Heejin looks at Jinsol once and clenches her fist around the string. She tugs again, but Hyunjin doesn't look around in confusion anymore. She's solely focused on Jinsol, her eyes sparkling and her smile truly genuine as they discuss something. She doesn't hear what they're talking about, even from a few feet away, despite Jungeun hearing from right next to her side.

Something clicks. There's no way she could ever get between Hyunjin and Jinsol. It's not possible, and fate would have to pull a really bad trick to take its course. It would almost be vile to break them apart. Of course, it doesn't have to necessarily happen.

She can disconnect herself. She's a weaver, and she has the power. It only rests within a pair of scissors strong enough to cut fate.

Everyone's talking. Heejin's surrounded by the waters of her thoughts, they obstruct her hearing. She worries her nails on the unaffected string and, for once, wishes she had a pair of scissors and clamps two fingers down on it in a mock snip. It hardly even moves. Hyunjin jumps and a sliver of hope shines for Heejin, but it shatters immediately. Jinsol asks Hyunjin if anything's wrong, and the other is gone again.

Her mind is made up. She makes a mental note to save up and buy a pair of those ornate black scissors that she's researched about and clenches her hands down onto her chair, forces a smile on her face and acts as if she's unaffected. It's all she ever does, anyway. Bear everything from the shadows.

At least she can help those two be together. It would be the one way she can ever do anything for Hyunjin like she wants to.

 

***

 

These models really turn out to be expensive, the itch in her wallet almost stronger than the one in her heart. But they're the only ones she's found out to actually cut the strings, tested by other weavers, so she cherishes her acquisition with delicate care. As long as she has the scissors, she's more than a full-fledged weaver; she's also in responsible charge of her own destiny.

The white box is highly unlike the onyx scissors inside. It's sparkling almost like a diamond, effects applied to highlight the item's power and importance. The butterfly etched onto the cover stands out in its black beauty, with intricate details carved into it, signifying the model she's bought, one of the few onyx variations.

Onyx butterfly scissors are the only variation professional weavers use. They cut cleanly and remove the emotional attachment, so they would do the perfect job for her. And if she ever had to cut any strings again, they would make for a perfect tool.

Heejin runs her fingers over the blades, and they draw a thin line of blood across the skin. She only smiles emptily, but feels her heart getting lighter knowing that soon enough, she'll be free. She already has the means of escape. The only thing left to achieve is the proper situation, the occasion to mix up fate and reorder it into something favorable.

Her sister, Haseul walks into her room with a tray of cookies, rambling something about cooking and the batter she has left in the kitchen. She meets eyes with Heejin, who's still holding the onyx scissors in front of her face.

The tray falls to the floor. Their younger sister complains about the noise in the background, through the walls. It doesn't matter.

Haseul tries way too hard to talk her into getting rid of those scissors, ranting about how messing with destiny isn't the right thing to do. She berates her and pleads for Heejin not to do something she'll end up regretting. She's truly like another mother in a sense, trying to shine light onto a right path. Really, she's just trying to impede the way to her true happiness.

Her only true happiness would be not having anything to do with Hyunjin anymore. She can't stand the way she and Jinsol are together now and so very much in love, to the point where they would never let each other go. Gone are the days when she could stay back and tends to her wounds. This feeling is starting to end her. It kills her inside out, burns everything of herself that she's ever known.

The petals of her hearts fall, burn and turn to ashes. And Heejin doesn't want to rise like a phoenix like she once did. She only wants to rest.

She ignores Haseul as she gives Jinsol a call right under her eyes, asks her for a meetup at one of Hyunjin's favorite cafés the following Saturday evening. Obviously, the blonde happily offers to bring her girlfriend along. It makes Heejin's situation easier as she ends the call and doesn't have to contact the one making her life a living hell. Haseul looks disappointed in her, but it doesn't matter. It wouldn't be the only time she was powerless in changing Heejin's mind.

She'll be free one way or another. The way is opening up for her through her own work.

 

***

 

Jinsol really is nice and a generally pleasant person, childish from how she's waving her hands around above her hot chocolate, a cozy blue scarf around her neck. She's highly fond of pastels, clad from head to toe in soft hues and white. Her blonde hair is littered with snowflakes still falling freely from the night sky, and she's laughing, cracking some innocent but bad joke.

Hyunjin's absolutely smitten, sighing every so often as she looks at the blonde. There's a smile tugging at her lips as she leans back in her chair. That smile used to light up the fire in her heart in so many ways. Now, it only brings Heejin a dull pain, especially knowing what she's about to do. Not even their small talk really awakens anything within her. Maybe those fires have finally burned out.

She slips the sparkling white box out of her bag, under the table. Heejin takes out the onyx scissors and hides them in her back pocket, draws her sweater over and hopes they're hidden well enough in the artificial lighting of the lampposts of the building.

A nosy waiter approaches them. Heejin's never hated someone more because Jinsol snaps out of her mini-trance right when she's about to put the box back where it belongs. "May I help you-"

Jinsol's eyes turn to him and then abruptly slip under the table, and by some cursed happening, they spot the glittering box. Her mouth falls open immediately, eyes wide.

"Aren't those weaver scissors? The expensive kind?"

Hyunjin's attention redirects to Heejin as well. She curses under her breath, drops the box into her bag less stealthily than she planned to. The waiter is all eyes for her as well. Cornered, she can't put her plan underway. Not stealthily.

She plans on doing it anyway, so she takes the pair out from her pocket and lays it down on the table, detaches herself from the situation. She has to do it, so she might as well. "Yeah, I just bought them."

Hyunjin's interest in her is finally piqued then, out of all the times it could've been so. "You're a weaver, then? Those cost a fortune."

Ignored, the waiter uncomfortably walks away. Heejin doesn't care. Instead, she nods. "I had some business tonight."

"Business?" Jinsol questions, her eyebrows raised. Heejin remembers that she is sharp, much more than she lets on, and feels herself switch to the defensive. She can definitely figure out why Heejin truly called them to the café.

Heejin decides she has to act fast, before Jinsol realizes exactly what she's implying. Jinsol's string is laid out across the table already, so she only has to sling hers and Hyunjin's on top of the surface. She makes quick work of cutting the strings right under the two's eyes; pink and yellow breaks apart, and so does blue and peach. She shuffles them and ties yellow and blue together, resigning to tying the peach to her own.

She doesn't know who has the peach string. It doesn't matter, she can't leave her string open and she definitely needs to get rid of Hyunjin before her heart breaks and she's left as just an useless shell.

"Thank you, and have a happy life together," she finishes in a deathly tone, slips her scissors into her bag, not bothering to put them back in the box. "I certainly will have one."

She rises from the table, ignores how Hyunjin gets up from her seat and shouts after her as she leaves down the road, the way she came there through.

Her phone is buzzing the whole way to her home, but she doesn't pay it a single glance until she lays down onto her bed, feeling hollow, but light. Finally, she's done it, after so much suffering on her own.

She turns on the display of the device and scrolls the messages that would have made her jump and squeal like a lovestruck schoolgirl any other day.

 

_Hyunjinnie: heejin?_  
_Hyunjinnie: heejin, answer me. what did you do?_  
_Hyunjinnie: this is important. stop ignoring me. i should have a say in this._  
_Hyunjinnie: whose threads did you cut? were they ours?_  
_Hyunjinnie: you have to tell us._

 

Heejin doesn't care about the situation anymore. So she only answers with the bare truth, she has nothing left to hide.

 

_Heejin: i used to love you._  
_Heejin: so much it was destroying me._  
_Heejin: i don't anymore, so be happy._  
_Heejin: i was your soulmate, now it's jinsol._  
_Heejin: i know you truly love her. we can move on from this._  
_Heejin: and we'll both be happy._

 

She only feels emptiness where there used to be love and pain. Finally, her lungs and soul are free. Heejin finds it in herself to smile genuinely, for the first time in years.

Yet somehow, something urges her to see Hyunjin's response. Maybe it's a desire for final closure.

 

_Hyunjinnie: you should've talked with us, not just messed with destinies like that._  
_Hyunjinnie: we're both overwhelmed. this affects both of us, not just you. do you not understand?_  
_Hyunjinnie: this is irreversible._  
_Hyunjinnie: and really selfish of you to do._

 

She wishes those words awakened anything within her, at least some basic kind of offense. Maybe it was too late for her to feel anything anymore, and she was too late in cutting the ties, everything having taken its toll.

 

_Heejin: let me be selfish for once._  
_Heejin: i have loved for too long._  
_Heejin: way too long._  
_Heejin: you're with your love, so don't worry so much._  
_Heejin: nothing changes. at all._  
_Heejin: it just validates you two as meant for each other._  
_Heejin: and that's great._  
_Heejin: goodbye._

 

She drops her phone, ignores any other buzzing. Instead, Heejin picks up the diary by her bedside, opens it to a new entry and raises her pen to the page. The previous one stands to attention as a plethora of feelings she doesn't identify with anymore. Tales of love and so many good emotions along with the bad; anguish spotted with so much admiration for a single person, all gone down the drain.

She would've never been more happy to throw away feelings so carelessly. And so, her pen writes.

 

_Entry 121._

  
_I'm free. I don't have anything to do with her anymore, finally. All it took me was a snip, and then it was over. How freeing it can be to discard emotion; why haven't I done this sooner? So much time wasted over something so trivial, time that could've been spent well..._  
_I'm Jeon Heejin, and I don't love Kim Hyunjin. I am not Kim Hyunjin's soulmate. I am now waiting for my own. And I shall be waiting for my heart to heal as well._  
_I've broken free. Now it's time to love myself first and foremost. I was selfish, but that's the only way I could ever recover. I'm sorry, but it was necessary._  
_I'm looking forward to noting down good days in my diary from now on. I've missed them._

 

She looks out the window. There are clouds in the sky blocking the moonlight, but it's brighter than anything she's ever been. And finally, she feels she can become the brighter sky and rise from her darkness.

The clock on the nightstand reads 23:53, becomes the minute she's finally set everything aside. And then, she becomes the new and happy Jeon Heejin, with only 7 minutes of Saturday left.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed this story, although it was admittedly a little short. i wanted to work mostly with the feelings, and i hope they shined through well enough! ^^


End file.
